NBC's
Today on Monday offered the most sympathetic take on the growing outrage over
invasive pat downs being conducted at airports by the Transportation
Security Administration. While ABC highlighted "outrage" and CBS
observed how some find the procedures "violating," Today host Matt Lauer
worried about the government "caving" on the policy.

All three morning shows interviewed TSA Administrator John Pistole. But, only Matt Lauer fretted, "...I hate to even think of what happens if the government caves in on this,
and relaxes these procedures, and someone manages to get something on
board a plane and causes harm. Imagine the questions you'll be asked at
that point."

Lauer asserted that with the comparatively small number of people
complaining, the anger could be "overblown." While all three programs
played a clip of Barack Obama critiquing the screening program, Today,
Good Morning America and The Early Show failed to portray the
controversy as a problem for the White House.

Lauer
worried about the TSA agents who conduct the pat downs: "But I think we
can both agree on and probably all agree on one thing: this is not the
fault of the TSA screeners...They're being called names at airports, and
that clearly can't continue, can it?"

In a previous report, NBC correspondent Tom Costello empathized, "But
some TSA screeners are now anonymously complaining on the Internet about
the public backlash. 'Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment,
creep: these are all words I have heard today at work describing me,'
writes one. 'I should not have to go home and cry after a day of
honorably serving my country.'"

ABC and CBS singled out the story of passenger Thomas Sawyer, a bladder
cancer survivor, who had his urostomy bag ruptured during a pat down,
causing him to be covered in urine. Today skipped this incident, but did
highlight other embarrassing examples.

Early Show co-host Maggie Rodriguez conducted the toughest interview of
Pistole. She grilled, "In the meantime, you will continue with these
pat downs that some people have called 'humiliating, violating, and
demeaning'? At the moment, that is still the plan?"

Raising the case of Mr. Sawyer, Rodriguez followed-up: "And I don't
know if you've heard the story of this man who said that it was so
aggressive that his urine bag spilled. So my question is why should
anyone have to sacrifice dignity for safety?"

On GMA, Roberts pressed Pistole on whether the policy would be changed, wondering about people who feel violated: " So what happens, what kind of recourse do they have if they do the things that people are saying?"

A transcript of the November 22 Today interview, which aired at 7:05am EST, follows:

MATT LAUER: John Pistole is the head of the Transportation Security Administration. John, good morning to you.

TSA ADMINISTRATOR JOHN PISTOLE: Good morning, Matt.

LAUER: You know, we spoke on this show last week, just after these new
procedures were put into effect, and I have to admit: I thought the
uproar over this would die down rather quickly. It has not. In fact, it
seems more and more passengers are complaining. Are you now actively
rethinking this policy?

PISTOLE: Yes, Matt- you're probably aware that we constantly evaluate
and evolve our protocols, in light of the latest intelligence. And, of
course, we saw, over the weekend, new intelligence coming out of al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula about how they constructed these cargo
devices from Yemen at the end of last month and what that means. But
clearly, there has been a significant concern raised with the traveling
public, and members of Congress have expressed concern from their
constituents and things. So yes, we're going to look at how can we do
the most effective screening in the least invasive way, knowing that
there's always a trade-off, that we talked about: that trade-off between
security and privacy, and where- again, reasonable people can disagree
as to that precise (unintelligible) for them-

LAUER: Let me make sure I understand what you're saying here. Are you
thinking of- are you rethinking this policy and adapting it, based on
the intelligence and the threat level out there, or are you going to
adapt this policy simply because people are complaining about it?

PISTOLE: Well, obviously, we have to take all factors into
consideration. My job is security and what can we best do? What I'm
interested in that is going back to the Government Accountability
Office- GAO- the inspector general for the Department of Homeland
Security, and say- look, you are the ones who did this covert testing
prior to 12/25 last year. What did you find, in ways that if we did
modify, in some respect, the type of screening that we do-

LAUER: Right-

PISTOLE: How can we adjust that? Because what they found is they were
able to get through security because of the lack of thoroughness that we
have.

LAUER: I want talk about- I want to put this in perspective if we can,
John. When its comes to the actual number of people who are being
patted-down, for example- what are we talking about? What percentage?

PISTOLE: So- it's a very small percent. I can't give you the exact
amount, but a very small percent. For example, since we started the new
pat-down procedure, we've had approximately 34 million people travel. It
is a very small percentage in number of those who have actually
received this type of thorough pat-down. So, it seems like, from what
I'm seeing in the media, in a way, that every passenger almost is
receiving this pat-down. That's clearly not the case. It's a very small
percentage. So-

LAUER: Right. Again, it can be overblown. I'm not going to be the one,
and nor can you be, to decide whether people think this is overly
invasive or not invasive enough. But I think we can both agree on and
probably all agree on one thing: this is not the fault of the TSA
screeners, and we've heard that they're being- you know, blamed for
this. They're being called names at airports, and that clearly can't
continue, can it?

PISTOLE: Well, I appreciate that, Matt, and actually, I've heard both
sides. I've received comments from some of the security officers who
have said that customers- travelers have been very complementary and
appreciative of the work that they are doing to keep them and the
traveling public safe. But clearly, we can't have passengers who are
abusive to security officers who are there to protect them and their
loved ones while they're traveling.

LAUER: Doing their job- and I hate to be the one to even bring this up,
but in this situation, with these pat-downs and this increased
screening procedures, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't,
John. I mean, I hate to even think of what happens if the government
caves in on this, and relaxes these procedures, and someone manages to
get something on board a plane and causes harm. Imagine the questions
you'll be asked at that point.

PISTOLE: We're clear, and that's the- that dynamic tension that we deal
with every day. So how do we do the best possible job of balancing the
security that everybody wants and even demands- and rightfully so- with
the privacy that everybody wants- and how do we best blend that? So that
is a challenge that we face every day, and we try to do that in
partnership with the traveling public, saying- look, work with us,
because we are there to help protect you. We just want to make sure that
you and everybody else on that plane arrives safely.

LAUER: Right- and real quickly here- there are some people calling for
this 'National Opt-Out Day,' and they're calling for it, I think, on
Wednesday, one of the busiest travel days of the year. Do you have the
manpower to actually deal with a situation where large numbers of people
simply refuse screening?

PISTOLE: Clearly, we'll be fully staffed, Matt, but the question
becomes, what happens to the wait times, and do people end up missing
flights because of a small or large group- whomever it is- decides to
protest and delay those vast majority of people who just want to get
home for the holidays. So I hope that people use judgment and reason to
say- look, everybody just wants to enjoy the holidays- let's be safe
when we do that. Let's not tie up those people who just want to go home
and spend time with loved ones.

LAUER: John Pistole- John, I think you're in a tough position. I appreciate your time this morning. Thanks very much.

PISTOLE: Thank you, Matt.

- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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